Starting Anew
by peanut0565
Summary: Post Season 1 Finale, AU. Nathan wakes up in 2010, Florence, Italy; without a name, a past, anything. Can he get his memory back, while trying to start anew in the process in case he never gets his memory back? Bad Summary, I know, take a look please.
1. Prolouge: Waking Up

_**Author's Note: **__I don't own Heroes. This story was inspired by the story 'What Country, Friends, Is This?' Which is a good story, and you should read it. Lol. Anyways, the idea behind it(which the story I was inspired by) is that Nathan, Not Peter, was the one to get amnesia and ends up in a foreign country. This story explores another angle this idea._

_Enjoy and please tell me whatcha think?_

----------------------------------------------

He opened his eyes to find a completely white room. The flourescent lights were so blinding, that he had to shut his eyes again for a moment, before re-opening them to find a much less hostile light. After another moment his eyes completely adjusted, giving him a moment to scan the details of the room.

A person with a white coat came in, holding a chart in his arms. He was almost six feet tall, and had short brown hair that was slicked backwards, and a pair of wireless framed glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. He looked up at him and smiled, his green eyes radiating with compassion, and that of hope as a younger physician.

The doctor began to speak, but He couldn't understand him. He furrowed his eyebrows just slightly. "I...I don't understand." He replied softly, his voice sounded hoarse and weak in his own ears.

"Oh, You speak english." The doctor said in revelation. "I'm Dr. Cole Botts, You can call me Cole though. And You are?" Cole asked him for his name. He blinked a few times, and his eyes furrowed even further.

"I...I don't know." He confessed in a voice no louder in a whisper. "Do you know where you are?" Cole then asked. He closed his eyes in deep thought, but found a blank mind. After a moment he re-opened them and sighed, shaking his head.

"The date?" The doctor asked another, scribbling notes down onto the chart in his hand with a blue pen. He glanced around for a moment, searching his empty mind until finally coming on an answer.

"November 8th, 2006." He answered looking hopefully to the doctor. Cole simply sighed, another wrong answer.

"It's October 29th, 2010." Cole corrected him. He eyed the young physician up, that couldn't be right. It was 2006, not 2010. What happened? He tried to think back once again, but came up with nothing.

"Where am I?" He asked his doctor, not even opening his eyes. "A hospital in Florence, Italy." He felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something was not right about this, infact something was very very wrong. Why couldn't he remember his name? Why did he think it was 2006? He was fairly certain he didn't come from Italy, but didn't know where the original place was.

"You were found in a crater just outside the city in November of 2006. You were injuried badly, We had to remove your right arm and perform several skin graft surgeries to help you survive whatever happened to you. You've been in a coma ever since." Cole explained.

He opened his eyes and finally noticed the missing right arm. It had been reduced too merely a stub, cut off at the elbow. He also noticed that a good portion of his upper body on the right side had a series of scars from past surgeries.

He was overwhelmed, and started to panic; breathing heavily through his nose. He felt himself starting to convulse just slightly. "Calm down." Cole set down the chart and took a hold of him at the shoulders, tightly. "You need to breath, come on." He said calmly. The soothing tone of the man did nothing to help ease his manic behavior. After a moment, He finally faded back into the darkness.

----------------------------------------------

_"You Go, I Go!"_

_"No! Peter!"_

He gasped, his eyes popping open in shock. What was left of his right arm stretched out in an attempt to grasp something that was unattainable. He launched himself into a sitting position with the exertion he didn't have.

He was left winded, sitting upward, staring at his weak self in the mirror. He looked at his panting reflection with fatigue and confusion. The image in his head of himself was far different then the one he was seeing in the mirror on the wall opposite of his bed.

Before him was a weakened body, and it looked as though he was an old vietnam veteran. His hair was long, tangled, and speckled with gray. His face looked far older then he thought he was, covered with healing scars and etched in pained wrinkles. His bare chest was also marred with scars of so many surgeries that he didn't remember.

"You're awake." He turned his head slightly to the doorframe and saw Cole.

"How many surgeries did I have?" He asked numbly.

"23. We kept running into complications and had to perform them in short successions to keep you breathing." His doctor answered straight and truthfully. There was another silence, as he glanced back to his reflection.

"I don't remember anything. I don't remember what happened. But I do know somehow this is not where I belong...I can't explain it, theres just something completely wrong about this whole thing. I have a feeling...I have a feeling that I should not be alive." He rambled, his eyes not leaving his reflection in the mirror.

"It's called retrospective amnesia. You might be able to get your memory back, you might not ever get it back." Cole explained, his voice now at his side.

"How do I move on, when I don't know who I am? How can I?" He asked his doctor.

"Well, Right now, since you have finally woken up. You'll be moved to a home for people with mental disabilities, much like yourself. There, we can figure out what to do next, wether we can get your memory back, or we can get a new identity for you, papers, and help you move on." Cole explained to him. He nodded numbly in response.

"I need a hair cut..." He replied after a long moment of quietness. Cole chuckled, as he turned to look at the doctor and looked at him pointedly.

"Yes you do." The young doctor replied, smirking. "I'll have one of the nurses come in a little later." Cole continued. Cole then placed a hand on his shoulder and gently pushed him back. "You need to rest. Tomorrow you'll be brought to your new residence."

The doctor began to leave the room then. "Cole?" He asked, looking up at the ceiling. "Yes?" The doctor replied. "What will be my name?" He asked.

"Oh, well We've been calling you Gabriel since you got here. How does that sound to you?" Cole returned. The name felt wrong, but he needed one, even if it was just temporary until he figured out his real name. "Gabriel...Gabriel doesn't sound right, but It will do, I guess." He replied quietly.

"Good, now get some rest, Gabriel." The doctor said as he left. Gabriel closed his eyes and fell into an exhausted sleep.

_TBC_


	2. Chapter 1: The Institution

_**Author's Note:**__ I've been inspired to continue! lol. _

_Thank you __**Cat 2**__ for the review, it is much appreciated._

_Enjoy and please give me feedback!_

------------------------------------------------------

**Chapter 1: The Institution**

A young woman dressed in light blue scrubs entered his room. She couldn't have been more then twenty six, and her black hair was pulled back into a pony tail. "Ciao, il sig. Gabriel, me li dicono bisogno il vostro taglio dei capelli?" She asks, holding up a kit in his view.

"I'm sorry, I don't speak italian..." He said to her putting on a small sad smile.

"Non si preoccupi, io può capire l'inglese, per non parlarlo appena bene." She replied, taking the remote on his bed and pushing the elevation button. He felt his back raising him into a sitting position almost, as he looked at her in slight shock. He couldn't understand her at all.

"Il mio nome è Sophia." She said to him, patting her chest a second before smiling. He understood that.

"Il... mio...nome... è... Gabriel." He tried to repeat her, just replacing the name with his pseudo-name. "Molto buon!" She smiled even wider, congradulating him as he attempted the language and seemed to do well.

"Molto buon..." He whispered again as if to commit it to memory. Sophia then patted him on the shoulder, physically telling him to lean forward just enough so she could get a hold of his entangled mess that was hair.

"...così tanto capelli." He heard her whisper as she extracted a pair of scissors, and began hacking at the almost mullet looking mess of hair.

--------------------------------------

Dr. Botts entered the room just as Sophia was cleaning him up. Gabriel looked over to the younger doctor and smiled weakly. "You look much better with that hair cut, Gabriel." He said calmly, smoothly. He smiled, then looked back at the mirror, running his hands through the much shorter hair that was slicked backwards, much like Cole's hair style.

"I have to agree." He admitted, then looked to Sophia who was just about to leave. "Grazie Sophia. Grazie." He told her with a smile. Cole looked over to her with slight furrow eyebrows.

"State insegnandogli la lingua?" He asked. "Ho insegnato lui alcune frasi, ma a non quella parola" She replied. "Interessare." Cole muttered under his breath before pulling a wheelchair into view and into the room.

"Am I going to the home you were talking about, now?" Gabriel asked, already knowing the answer. Cole just nodded and moved towards him, yanking at the bed rail and pulling it down.

"Is it near here?" Gabriel asked, swinging his feet over the edge of the bed slowly, so they were just barely touching the cold tile floor. He shuddered just slightly at the feel.

"No, Its about an hour outside the city." Cole said. "Are you taking me there?" Gabriel asked.

Cole just shook his head a little bit. "No, Gabriel, I can't, I have other patients to attend. You understand?" Dr. Botts said, moving towards Gabriel and helping him transfer from the bed to the wheel chair.

"But...but... what if no one can speak english there?" He knew he sounded like a child, but it was a worry that needed to be eased.

"Don't worry, I know the physicians there, They can speak english very well." Cole answered with confidence, moving around the chair and starting to push the elder man out the door of the room.

------------------------------------------------------

"Siamo qui." The driver said, as they stopped infront of an old mansion. Gabriel peered out the window in awe, as he had done through the entire ride. The countryside and even the city were beautiful. He didn't pay attention to driver's words, knowing he wouldn't understand them anyways and just stared out the window the whole ride.

Two people approached the vehicle, one in a lab coat that was very similar to Dr. Botts, and the other in simply a pair of jeans and t-shirt. The more formal wear was a female, and the other who appeared younger was male.

The boy moved to the back of the car, taking out the wheelchair that was stowed in there. The ebony haired green eyed doctor pulled open the door and knelt down next to it, so she was almost eye level with Gabriel.

"You must be Gabriel. My Name is Dr. Emily Petrelli." The last name caught his attention, and was ringing off a bell in the distance. Gabriel didn't know what bell, or why he felt so fimilar with the name, but it was setting off something. His eyes furrowed just slightly as the young boy rolled the wheel chair next to him.

"What's the matter?" Emily asked quizically. Gabriel quickly shook his head from the daze and confusion, and smiled weakly. "Nothing, Dr. Petrelli." He said reaching for the chair, pulling it closer to him.

"Please call me Emily." She said, helping him into the chair before he even had a chance to try it by himself. "And this is my son, Jonathon, He's helping me out at the home while saving up for a trip over to the United States." She said, giving a quick pat on the shoulder to the younger male, and then the three of them began to ascend towards the old mansion on the hill.

------------------------------------------------------

As soon as they reached the inside of the mansion, Jonathon parted with them, saying something in italian to his mother before shaking Gabriels' hand with a 'Nice to meet you, Gabriel.' in perfect english and leaving.

"Let's give you a tour." Dr. Petrelli said whispfully, pushing his chair along the main corridor. "There's the terrace, many of our residences love that area, we have gardens and a tennis court, and alot of green grass to just wander in." She pointed out to one of the doors to the left of him.

"Here's the game room." She turned to the right and wheeled him into the room that had two different tables set up. One of them had a group of people playing with a deck of cards. There was also a couch in the furtherest corner with a television set up and a small white box centered just below it.

"We have cards, several board games, and even a Wii deck." Emily stated. She then looked up to the ones playing cards, as they looked at her and greeted her.

"Ciò è Gabriel." She said nodding down to him. They waved and greeted him. He only smiled back, unsure of how to reply. They were all speaking in their native language.

"Come on, We still have alot to see." Emily said after a second then headed out of the room with him. She lead him further down the hall, passing several doors on each side before stopping once again to point out another important room to him.

"This is the physical therapy room. You'll get to know this room very well soon, to get out of this wheel chair and on your own feet." He smiled slightly as they moved on and into an elevator. They moved up another level.

"The second floor is all the resident's private rooms." The doctor announced to him. She led him down the corridor, back tracking almost to the other side of the mansion once again, just a floor higher this time. She finally stopped the last door on his right. He glanced over to it and saw his name written on a thin slice of paper tapped to the wooden door.

"This is your room." She said, propping the door open and wheeling him in. The room itself was simplistic but nice. There was a wooden bed that was bolted down to the floor, covered in blue sheets, black comforter, and two light blue pillows; all neatly made and looked like it had yet been laid in. There was a window to the opposite wall of him, overlooking the terrace and green fields that surrounded the ancient mansion. There was a simple dresser on the wall opposing the bed, with four drawers.

"Can I get some new cloths?" He asked, finally saying something since the tour started. Emily let out a small chuckle. "Yes, of course dear. This weekend we can take you into town to get some other clothing." She answered pleasantly.

_TBC_


End file.
